ELEARNING CURRENT SITUATION AND EMERGING CHALLENGES

This paper aims to present and discuss current, as well as future challenges of eLearning technologies in the higher education institutions and organizations.ELearning has greatly transformed our way of learning by the use of the newly developed technologies and applications. This paper explores the eLearning current situation. After a brief eLearning history, from the earlier 1960’s, with the first generalized computer assisted instruction system PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations) to the 2010's with the development of social media for learning and the MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses). After that, the paper provides a review of the eLearning concept and how it has evolved over the years, followed by a look at the current technologies (from CD-ROMs to Virtual worlds and Game authoring technologies), applications and platforms being used. The emerging challenges are eventually discussed: needs for identifying suitable strategies and understanding the technology and pedagogy integration for effective eLearning implementations referring to pedagogical and cognitive aspects, level of ICT skills for both all the people involved in teaching, total commitment from management for eLearning system operationalization and sustainability, need for software quality frameworks and standards.&nbsp

Videoconference teaching for applied engineering technology students

Presented at the 2006 Annual ASEE Conference, June 21, 2006 - Chicago, Illinois.The development of a fully-interactive videoconference teaching facility for Applied Engineering Technology (AET) students is described in this work. This facility will provide greater program delivery flexibility by offering a non-traditional educational approach that expands student’s horizons. The new facility will allow all AET students at Drexel, as well as students at remote locations, to participate in the same educational and training process. By expanding training opportunities to students who might not otherwise take advantage of them, due to distance and time, this facility helps reduce the shortage of trained specialists in applied electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing technology. The videoconference teaching courses will be designed for undergraduate AET students and may also be taken by other undergraduate/graduate students at Drexel or by the students of other universities and community colleges who have fulfilled the necessary prerequisites and desire to pursue a BS degree in AET. The inter-institutional class sessions will be carried out utilizing Internet II-based access to high-end video and test equipment of Drexel’s AET electrical, electronics, and manufacturing laboratories. Through remote operation, expensive equipment of the AET laboratories, such as the electronics laboratory, nondestructive evaluation of materials laboratory, and web-enabled robotic assembly station, will be accessible to institutions that cannot afford the equipment directly and which do not have faculty with the expertise and training in these specific AET areas

Experimentação Remota em Atividades de Ensino Formal: um Estudo a Partir de Periódicos Qualis A

É apresentado nesse trabalho um estado da arte sobre o uso da Experimentação Remota no ensino formal, a partir do levantamento e análise de trabalhos sobre o assunto em revistas e periódicos de Ensino e Educação, no Brasil e no exterior. O intuito é investigar se (e como) os laboratórios remotos estão sendo utilizados no ensino, particularmente, no ensino de Física. Foram selecionados e analisados artigos de periódicos Qualis A nacionais e internacionais, entre os anos 2000 e 2009. No desenvolvimento de nosso trabalho não encontramos relatos de pesquisa sobre acesso remoto a experimentos para a área de Física ou de como isso pode incrementar o processo de ensino e aprendizagem dessa disciplina. Desta forma, as eventuais limitações na utilização desta ferramenta no ensino devem ser estudadas de forma aprofundada e suas potencialidades exploradas no sentido de suprir as necessidades de uma aula prática

Towards semi-automatic generation of training scenarios in industrial automated systems

International audienceIn the context of E-Learning, remote hands-on training has become an insisting need as in traditional learning, especially in scientific and technical disciplines. Electronic Laboratories (ELabs) have been growing for the last few years. But till now, exchanging learning scenarios of ELabs is still difficult as existing scenarios (elaborated by means of standard ELearning authoring tools) are restricted to specific apparatuses, which prevents instructors from reusing or exchanging scenarios. Actually, LIESP team started in 2002 a research aiming to provide a framework which helps towards exchanging ELab learning scenarios when they fit to similar apparatuses (same functions, maybe not the same hardware). Meanwhile, LIMOS team focused on a design process to automate PLC code generation to help to design and generate programs for industrial discrete systems. This paper presents a project of merging these works to help ELab designers to design and integrate apparatuses into ELab frameworks when these apparatuses are discrete systems

Integration of Distance Learning Technology into Traditional Engineering Physical Laboratory Exercises

This paper was published in the Proc. of the ASEE SE Section Regional Conference. The use of distance learning technology in distributed educational environments has allowed engineering courses to be delivered to locations and populations that have historically not been afforded opportunities for involvement. However, efforts to incorporate distance-learning principles into physical laboratory exercises have not led to a general mechanism or procedure for performing physical labs remotely. Removing these exercises from the course is not a satisfactory solution since physical laboratory exercises are a vital component of any educational curriculum in virtually every major field of engineering. Recently, faculty members from three universities in south Georgia have teamed up to collaboratively develop an innovative approach to integrate distance learning technology into traditional engineering physical laboratory exercises. An overview of this project and findings related to its initial phase are presented in this paper

Architectures and Design Methodologies for Scalable and Sustainable Remote Laboratory Infrastructures

With the increasing demand for distance learning opportunities in the higher education sector, there isan ever-growing need for the design and deployment of remote laboratories, especially for engineering,science, and technology curricula. In order to accommodate the offering of entire degrees for distancelearning students whose curricula require remote laboratories, scalable information technology infrastructuresthat support the large scale use and deployment of these remote laboratories must exist. Thischapter provides a discussion of architectures and design methodologies using technology such as commandand control communications, Web 2.0, and cloud computing, which provide a scalable, manageable,and sustainable technological infrastructure-basis for large scale remote laboratory deployment

Conception générique d'un outil de configuration de « e-TP »

Powered by the technological advances of the “Information and communication sciences and technologies”, the Electronic Laboratory for Practical Training “ELab” (also known as ELab hands-on training) has become an inescapable teaching mode especially in the technical and scientific disciplines. Thus, several ELab modes have emerged: virtual ELab, remote ELab, Local Elab, augmented reality ELab, etc. The latter require the use of hardware devices (educational mock ups, measuring instruments, robots, etc.). In most cases, before or during an ELab session, these devices need to be reconfigured according to teaching purposes. For complex systems, like Automated Production Systems (APS), this reconfiguration process requires technical skills which the instructor does not have systematically. This imposes that a technician should be available, failing which the usage of the pedagogical platform will be limited to a few skilled instructors. Accordingly, this research aims at facilitating the reconfiguration process of complex systems (particularly the APS) featuring ELabs. A first survey designated to the users of « AIP-Priméca-RAO », located at the INSA de Lyon, has revealed the needs and constraints related to such a platform. It has been highlighted that beyond the (re)configuration process, a waste of precious time was detected. It has been established that it was due to the absence of a common tool for pedagogical resource management. This observation fed the design of a software tool managing an editorial chain aiming at simplifying creation, edition, assembling, organization, and the reutilization of different resources that can be exploited in an ELab session. This tool is also intended to improve the autonomy of the instructor during the preparation of an ELab session, by reducing the required time to configure this session. This implies to automate the reconfiguration process of an APS supporting the ELab and the publishing of the pedagogical learning scenarios on a Learning Management System (LMS). In order to validate this design, a prototype has been developed and tested on real Elab cases. Subsequently, this tool could be rendered more generic so that it can serve Elabs in different disciplines.Renforcés par les avancées technologiques des « Sciences et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (STIC) », les Travaux Pratiques électroniques « e-TP » sont devenus un mode d’enseignement incontournable surtout dans les disciplines techniques et scientifiques. Plusieurs modes d’e-TP ont émergé : TP virtuel, TéléTP, TP présentiel assisté par ordinateur, TP en réalité augmentée... ces derniers modes nécessitant l'usage de dispositifs matériels (maquette pédagogique, appareils de mesure, robots, etc.). Dans la majorité des cas, avant ou même pendant une session d'e-TP, il est nécessaire de (re)configurer ces dispositifs selon des besoins pédagogiques. Cette reconfiguration nécessite, pour des systèmes complexes, comme les Systèmes Automatisés de Production (SAP), des compétences que l'instructeur ne possède pas systématiquement. Ce qui impose la présence d'un technicien ou limite le nombre d'instructeurs susceptibles d'utiliser la plate-forme pédagogique. Ce travail de recherche a pour objectif de faciliter la (re)configuration de systèmes complexes, particulièrement les SAP, dans le cadre d'e-TPs. Une première enquête auprès des utilisateurs de l’« AIP-Priméca-RAO » (situé à l’INSA de Lyon) a révélé les besoins et contraintes liés à une plate-forme de ce type. Il s'est avéré qu'au-delà de la (re)configuration, l'absence d'outil commun de gestion des ressources pédagogiques faisait perdre un temps précieux aux utilisateurs. Ce constat a nourri la conception d'un outil informatique gérant une chaîne éditoriale dont le but est de simplifier la création, l’édition, l’assemblage, l’organisation et la réutilisation des différentes ressources à exploiter dans une session d’e-TP. Cet outil a également pour objectif d’améliorer l’autonomie de l’instructeur lors de la préparation de sessions d’e-TP tout en réduisant le temps requis pour configurer cette session. Cela a impliqué d’automatiser le processus de reconfiguration du SAP support d'e-TP, et de publication des scénarios pédagogiques sur un système de gestion d’apprentissage « LMS » (Learning Management System). Un prototype a été développé et testé sur des e-TPs réels afin de valider cette conception. Cet outil pourrait, ultérieurement, être rendu plus générique afin de servir des e-TPs dans d'autres disciplines